Improvement in revenue and postal stamps



waited gtatr @sindA @wie Letters Patent No. 102,200, Zated April 26, 1870.

` IMPROVEMENT IN REVENUE'AND POSTAL STAMPS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

VBe it knowrtthat Lnwrs ABRAHAM, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Revenue and Postal Stamps, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the drawings that accompany tlli's'specication, making a part thereof.

The intention of my device is to provide a stamp that cannot be used but once, as it is so made that any attempt to take it off or disengage it from an iustrument or package to which it has been once afiixed will cause fracture or totally destroy it. This is effected-by making the stamp of two or more layers,- the lower one, by preference, of a weak and fragile n'ature. These layers arc perforated with certaindesig'ns,l so arranged that when they are laid one on top of another the varied perfor-ations combined make up a given design, and, when required, the whole stamp, when combined, may be completely perforated.

By preference, the upper layer, for some purposes,

I should be somewhat transparent, sothat any inscription or design placed inside may be visible.

It is evident that if any etiort is made to remove a stamp of this description by steam, dampness, or anyliquid, the combined layers will have a tendency to peel off and separate, and cannot be readjusted.

Referring to the drawings that accompany this speci'cation* Figure 1 represents the lower surfaceof a fifty-cent stamp, with four perforations representing rays of a sun.

Figure 2 represents the upper surface. of the same stamp, with other perforations v representing different rays of a sun.

Figure 3 represents thetwo layers joined, and the combined perfor-ations complete the representation `of a sun, which, it will be seen, is semi-perforated through divers parts of thewhole stamp.

The inequalities formed by these perforations make the stamp adhere rmer than if the stamp had a smooth under surface, and the inequalities of the upper surface cause any cancellation-ink to penetrate int and between each layer, so that any attempt to.

expunge the same by moisture acid, or other means will cause the laminie to separate ad fracture each angle and indentation made by the perforation and combination of the layers.

Any desired inscription or ornamentation can be placed either on the lower, upper, or between the layers, partially 011 each, if desirable, so that in conjunction they will mak-e any required device or description, as is illustrated outhe drawings by the words U. S. Int. Rev., Fifty Cents,,arranged in letters alternately on separate layers, and then combined, making the inscription.

I do not confine myself to any special design shape of either the stamp, its perforations, or the inscriptions; but, A

Having now fully described my invention,

'What Iclaim as new, and des-.ire tosecure by Letters Patent, i's- 1. An adhesive postal or revenue stamp composed of two or more layers of paper, perforated substantially as herein set forth and for the purposes described.

2. An adhesive stamp composed of twol or more sheets of paper, both or all of which are so perforated that when united.such perforations shall constitute given designs.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to lthis specification before two subscribing witnesses.,

LEWIS ABRAHAM.

XVitnesses:

A.- PoLLoK, WM. H. MCCABE. 

